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Monday, March 30, 2009

Follow up to holding my tongue

Thank you again for all the wise responses. I appreciate your input so very much. I wound up taking elements from each of the responses. Since she had asked some questions about breastfeeding and I know that she wants to breastfeed, I went ahead and included a copy of the Sears' Breastfeeding Book. That was the only 'propaganda', and I think that she will appreciate the information in the book, and feel free to reject anything she disagrees with.

I also included The Ministry of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson. It is easily one of the most inspiring books I've ever read on mothering, and has a beautiful section on grace. It doesn't get into any parenting philosophies, and I can't imagine anyone finding it controversial. I know she loves devotional books, and I think this one will encourage her a lot. If she does enjoy it as much as I expect, she may want to read Clay Clarkson's Heartfelt Discipline book later.

I threw in another little gift book that is just full of beautiful little notes by Robin Jones Gunn, an assortment of chocolates, fuzzy socks, and a super-soft baby blanket.

We had a wonderful visit for a couple of hours, and I did not offer any unsolicited advice on vaccines, circumcision, or any of the other topics I'd love to share, and restrained myself greatly on breastfeeding advice, basically just responding to questions or comments that she made.

She took a class on it at their hospital and was very excited about learning a baby's hunger cues. Even though she has been around breastfeeding a lot, she hadn't realized that it is a much happier experience for everyone if you don't wait until the baby is crying. She was really enthusiastic about being able to avoid the crying there. I agreed, and added that in my experience, that was especially true of night time feedings. I mentioned that even though my babies woke up often, by nursing them before they started crying, we were all back to sleep within moments instead of having to calm everyone down first.

She also remarked that I had always had a strong milk supply, and I shared BlessedMama's comment that it helped to nurse whenever they were hungry, so that my body quickly adjusted to the amount of milk that they needed and I didn't fall into the cycle of having to supplement an inadequate and dwindling milk supply.

Ezzo was never mentioned, or direct stuff about CIO, etc, but I am excited to hear about her plans for breastfeeding and the steps she has taken to educate herself already on the topic.

3 comments:

As usual, you handled yourself very sweetly and wisely. I would expect nothing less from you. She may yet come to you with questions, or even find her own personal road to parenting that works for her. Kudos to you!